Still riding the rock wave

By Matt Jacob January 12, 2018

On the first day of fall in 1984, John Waite ascended to the peak of the rock music mountain when his single “Missing You” reached No. 1. That the song held the top spot for but a single week—getting bumped by Prince and The Revolution’s “Let’s Go Crazy”—is inconsequential. What matters is that Waite achieved singer-songwriter immortality in a year loaded with colossal No. 1 hits by such artists as Prince, Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder, Cyndi Lauper, Tina Turner, Van Halen, Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney, and Madonna—to name but a handful.

The fact that Waite’s name is forever linked with those icons speaks to how massive a hit “Missing You” was. Just don’t call it his only hit. From his early days with The Babys to his solo career and his stint fronting the late 1980s supergroup Bad English, Waite has amassed a deep catalog of songs. Unlike a great many of his contemporaries, the Englishman still possesses the vocal chops to do all of them justice. But don’t take our word for it. See for yourself.